By-Elections Result: Setback For NDA As INDI Alliance Secures 10 Of 13 Assembly Seats

New Delhi: The Assembly by-elections have come up as a big boost for the INDI Alliance, as the Opposition bloc emerged as the major gainer winning ten of 13 Assembly seats across 7 states, including some of the seats, which was held by the BJP-led NDA earlier. The Bharatiya Janata Party bagged two seats in the by-elections, while an independent candidate won the lone seat in Bihar. The Election Commission on Saturday declared results for all the 13 assembly seats that went to by-polls on July 10.

Surprisingly, Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) won all four seats of West Bengal that went to by-polls. The Congress has also bagged four seats, including two seats in Uttarakhand and two seats in Himachal Pradesh. The party won the Dehra assembly seat in Himachal Pradesh, where it had fielded chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's wife Kamlesh Thakur.

In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won the lone seat, while the Rupauli seat in Bihar won by an independent candidate. The AAP, which fielded candidate Mohinder Bhagat from Punjab’s Jalandhar West, won the seat, defeating his nearest rival and BJP nominee Sheetal Angural by a margin of more than 37,000 votes.

On the other hand, the BJP bagged only two seats, one each from Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

TMC’s Sweep in West Bengal

In West Bengal's Raiganj seat, TMC leader Krishna Kalyani defeated BJP leader Manas Kumar Ghosh by over 50,000 votes. Madhupurna Thakur of TMC defeated Binay Biswas of BJP by about 33,000 votes in Bagda seat of West Bengal. TMC leader Mukut Adhikari win the Ranaghat Dakshin seat by about 39,000 votes.

TMC candidate Supti Pandey defeated BJP Kayan Chaubey by a margin of about 62,000 votes from Maniktala Assembly constituency.

Himachal Pradesh Bypolls

The Congress won two of the three seats that went to bypolls in Himachal Pradesh.  Kamlesh Thakur, wife of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, won the Dehri bypolls.  Congress candidate Hardeep Singh Bawa has also won from Nalagarh seat in Himachal Pradesh defeating KL Thakur of the BJP by about 8,900 votes.

BJP candidate Ashish Sharma defeated Congress leader Pushpinder Verma by about 1500 votes in Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur seat.

In Punjab, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Mohinder Bhagat won Jalandhar West bypoll defeating Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Sheetal Angural by over 37000 votes, according to Election Commission of India.

Uttarakhand Bypolls

The Congress has won both assembly seats in bypolls in Uttarakhand. Qazi Mohammad Nizammudin won the Mangraul bypoll by a thin margin of about 400 votes. In Badrinath too, Congress candidate Lakhapat Singh Butola defeated former sitting MLA Rajendra Bhandari by a margin of over 5000 votes.

The DMK was leading in the sole seat in Tamil Nadu, Vikravandi that went to the bypolls. In Bihar's Rupauli seat, independent candidate Shankar Singh won the bypolls by defeating JD-U's KP Mandal.